Mixed Signals
by OnlyTheInevitable
Summary: Scully gets flowers from a secret admirer and that, combined with the way Mulder's been acting, prompts her to be honest with herself. MSR.


**Credit to a poem I used: I literally Googled "sexy poem" and this was one that came up ****_Sensual Love Poems By K.Y.B._**

**Dedicated to, and requested by, the ever wonderful Mia (gllians) on Twitter. Seriously, if you're not following her you're missing out on QUALITY Gillian Anderson content. We stan a stan. (Also, so sorry it took me literally MONTHS to get to this prompt lol).**

They'd been in a general meeting, for once summoned for something other than getting their asses handed to them. Almost thirty other agents aside from themselves were currently crammed into a conference room to get menial messages about new security protocols while Mulder sat next to her, trying to be on his best behavior. She had to give him credit for keeping his volume down as he whispered his snarky comments to her under his breath. However, everytime he did so, at least two pairs of eyes would snap over in their direction, smirks erupting undoubtedly at evidence to the Spooky's 'office romance' being confirmed before their very eyes.

It always amused her how the other agents in the office seemed to possess the ability to make mountains out of molehills. Though she had to admit, today he was being touchier than usual and it was even making her question his motives. He was sitting so close to her that their legs were flush together, the skin of her leg rubbing constantly against the material of his dress pants. Looking around the room, it was pretty crammed, but everyone else still had a decent amount of space in between them. When she would try to back up, he would be back by her side within the minute, so close that she could smell his aftershave.

Scully could faintly hear Skinner talking about new protocol for building entry, but she could only focus on Mulder's jawbone as he gently chewed on the ferrule of his pencil. She could see where his stubble was coming through from his morning shave and her hand itched to feel the rugged texture.

As if sensing her eyes on him, he took the pencil out of his mouth and leaned back so that his lips grazed the shell of her ear. "And yet I get flack for being too 'paranoid," he murmured, his breath tickling the skin of her neck.

She hadn't been paying enough attention to know what he was referring to, so she just returned his smile sweetly and met his amused eyes. At least, they were amused for a second before they went past her head and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. She noticed in that moment that everyone had stopped talking and turned their attention to the same corner Mulder had. Following suit, she was met with a zitty, teenage boy standing awkwardly in the corner of the room, a huge bouquet of flowers comically in his arms.

"This is a private meeting," Skinner snapped at the poor, unexpecting kid.

He didn't move and Scully felt sympathetic that this boy had to experience the brute force of Skinner's irritation before he'd even fully experienced puberty. "I uh- I can't leave without making this delivery."

Skinner sighed, frustratedly running a hand over the smooth expanse of his head before beckoning the kid to go ahead. The room was gently buzzing with anticipation as the kid scrambled to find the card amid the two dozen coral roses. Scully chuckled at how awkward this situation was, leaning towards Mulder and beckoning him to lean his ear near her lips. "This is so uncomfortable," she whispered, ignoring the way his hand came to rest on her shoulder to keep her near.

He switched places with her and she could practically feel his amusement radiating off him. "You mean to tell me you wouldn't love to-"

"Dana Scully?" the kid shouted, silencing the room so intensely that a pin dropping would have been deafening.

She froze in stunned silence and watched as Mulder pulled back to look at her face, a slight smile threatening to break across his face as he watched her eyes widen. "Is there a Dana Scully here?" the kid asked again, not noticing that every single person in the room had turned to look at Scully's mortification.

Despite her intense desire to disappear, her hand timidly went up as she stated, "I'm Dana Scully."

The boy all but ran over, the roses hitting the back of fellow agents' heads on his attempt to get to her. She awkwardly took them and set them on the table, signing the piece of paper shoved in her face, and moved her attention to Skinner in the hopes he'd take pity on her and start the meeting up again without a hitch - as if she didn't have at least two dozen roses sitting obnoxiously in front of her.

"Who are they from?" a young secretary shouted from down the table. No such luck.

She grabbed the tag with a shaky hand and read the the typed tag silently to herself:

_Lay me down,_

_get ready to play._

_Do you have the energy,_

_cause I got all day. _

_Lead me where you_

_want us to go,_

_I'm ready and willing,_

_let's take it slow. _

_Happy Valentines Day, Dana_

It was as suggestive as it was thoughtful and her heart started to race at the suggestive implications of the poem. There was only one man in her life that she could imaging sending her a poem like _this_, and he was currently poking her leg in an attempt to remind her she was being asked a question. "Um, I-I don't know," she answered honestly.

"Wow," an agent from the homicide unit chuckled. "Sounds _spooky," _she teased, earning chuckles from the rest of the group.

"Enough," Skinner snapped. "Now, unless anyone else plans on getting public tokens of affection, I'd like to continue with the meeting."

Her entire face had to be bright red and she wished more than anything that this meeting would be over. In part because she hated having this much attention on her, but more in part because she wanted to ask Mulder if he knew anything about this. _Lead me where you want us to go. _Was this him asking her to take a leap forward in their relationship by taking a leap himself?

She jumped in her seat as Mulder leaned into her to read the tag himself. _Was he reading it because he didn't know what it said, or because he wanted to make sure his words were printed correctly? _He made a sound at the back of his throat and when she turned to look at him, she ended up being face to face with him. He moved closer, but swiveled to the side so he could whisper to her again, "Orange roses mean desire and passion, Scully. Looks like you have an admirer."

She just sat there stunned as he turned back around as if he hadn't just added another level of tension to the already suggestive note. She honestly didn't know what to focus on more: What this meant or what she was going to do about it.

Throughout the entire rest of the meeting, she had to avoid the amused glances of the other agents. She even saw one secretary whisper "_he sent her flowers," _though she quickly shut up when she caught Scully's gaze. The entire room seemed to be buzzing with the undercurrent of excitement that Mulder sent her flowers...which is what made her start to question if it really was him. For the past few years they'd been having to negate the claims and insinuations that they were a couple - why would he send her something so publicly knowing everyone would assume it was him?

The rest of the meeting went on pretty much in the same way. All the agents looked at them with speculative eyes, she sat there contemplating her entire relationship, Mulder kept looking at her face then her flowers then back to her face, and Skinner looked like he just realized he chose the worst day for this meeting and had come to the realization none of these agents would remember the new security protocols.

"Alright, that's enough for today. You're all dismissed," he scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air.

Scully sighed in relief, excited to get away from all the prying eyes. She got up from her seat, but, as soon as she reached to grab the mass of flowers from the table, Mulder grabbed for them. "Here, I can carry them for you."

When he offered, Scully caught eyes with a sleazier agent from across the table. She wasn't sure what unit he was from, but she'd seen him around more times than she'd prefer and he always managed to make her uncomfortable. The man stared at Mulder and her with a leer that had her snatching the flowers from him and saying, "I got it" - a leer Scully felt was implying he was thinking on the more lascivious side of all the other agent's musings. It just added to her overall agitation. Mulder may have been fine with the attention he was bringing to them, but she wasn't.

The whole walk down to the basement was amusing - in the painfully embarrassing sense of the word. She couldn't quite see in front of her due to all the roses, which led her to running into Mulder a few times who, good naturedly, would grab her elbow and lead her in the right direction, a few mumbled apologies being the only words she spoke. There were so many roses that it practically encompassed her frame and, while it was annoying, it blocked her blush from the man who caused it.

_Yet he didn't even seem pleased with himself that he'd flustered her. _

Usually, under absolutely any circumstance, he'd be teasing her. Pointing out her blush, laughing at her shyness, overall boasting his amusement with a boyish smile, but… he wasn't. He did keep looking at her, that wasn't unusual, but he didn't look pleased with himself at all. In fact, he almost looked sad.

Guilt started to gnaw away at her when she realized how it probably came off to him. After all these years he finally makes a romantic gesture, on Valentine's day nonetheless, and she acted like she just received news she'd need a root canal. Even now as she sat across the desk from him, the flowers awkwardly sitting to the side like an elephant in the room, the tension in the air was thick.

Thick like his skull if he thought he would have gotten a good reaction by doing it in front of everyone that propagated the rumors they had to fight everyday. _Unless that's exactly why, _she thought to herself. Maybe he did it so he could act like he'd never seen the flowers before and divert suspicion away from himself and he was pouting that it didn't work.

Her concentration was broken when she heard him speak. "I'm sorry. What was that?" she asked.

"Did the flowers make you uncomfortable?" he repeated, gesturing to the flowers with the eraser end.

"Not the flowers, no, but the attention did," she answered honestly.

He was leaning back in his seat, chewing on his lip and playing with a pencil. "Do you like them?" he asked. Mulder was relined in an imitation of ease that the tenseness of his body couldn't match. There was something about his tone of voice too. It was the same intonation he used when he was trying to figure out something. She just wasn't used to the thing he was trying to figure out be her, not like this.

She realized this was her chance to make him feel better. Putting on the sweetest smile she could muster, she said, "Yes. I think they're quite lovely. Whoever sent them clearly cares about me."

"Mmm," he grunted, barely nodding in recognition before returning to his work. She could tell he was distracted, his eyes were on the computer, but they weren't moving. It was obvious he wasn't doing anything other than avoiding her attention.

_Okay…_

Sometimes she wished anything about her relationship was relatively normal. It'd at least make things just a little easier for her. Scully let out a sigh and started gathering a few things up for the day, and, while she did, her hand brushed across the little card that had been attached to the flowers. She left it on the desk, lest cause Mulder any more unnecessary angst, and her focus caught on the last two stanzas.

_Lead me where you_

_want us to go,_

_I'm ready and willing,_

_let's take it slow. _

It was just like Mulder to be romantic enough to include a poem. The first two were so implicit it made her body heat up, but these two nagged at her more. It was just so clear - he wanted her to take the next step. _What was the next step?_ She'd be lying if she said this isn't what she'd wanted, what she'd wanted for a while. The thought of something more with Mulder had been a long running dream she'd had, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She didn't know what she'd do if it didn't work out.

"Coming, Scully?" Mulder asked.

Her head shot up and she saw Mulder was standing at the door, holding her jacket in his hands_. If it didn't work out like she thought, she'd probably look as dejected and hurt as Mulder did now._

_She had to do something._

"Oh, um, yeah," she stammered, standing up and easing her arms into the garment he was helping her into.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered, sending him another warm smile. The one she knew he liked, the one that usually caused his gaze to linger and the tips of his ears to turn red. Just like they were now.

She walked over and grabbed the flowers and note before following him out. She wished she had a better plan, or any plan at all. She wanted to say something before they parted ways and he inevitably went home and fell into a spiral of self-deprecation. Her heart was beating out of her chest when they reached the elevator and he reached for the button. "Wait!"

He turned to her, clearly confused, but patient nonetheless as he let his hand fall back to his side as he turned to her. She felt her cheeks start to burn again and she wished she was better at this. "I-I know, we're not very good with our words, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you doing this," she started.

He let out a little breath and said "Scully-," but she interrupted him before he could go on. She needed to get this all out.

"You're so thoughtful and kind, and our partnership means more to me than anything in the world," she rambled. He was looking at her with intense focus with a look of surprised rapture on his face, like he couldn't believe she was actually reciprocating and that he was hanging off of every word. "As much as I wish it hadn't been in public, this does mean a lot to me and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd thought about it a lot," she admitted, her gaze flitting to the flowers to avoid revealing too much of herself through looking at him.

"You have?" he asked, his voice sounding shocked.

She looked back and he was still standing still as a statue, but for the first time she could see hope blossoming in his eyes. She nodded lightly before nearly-whispering, as if realizing that they were still technically at work no matter how secluded the basement was, "I like you, Mulder. A lot." He still looked amazed and she added the final blow. "So, if you truly would like to explore this, _thing_, between us. If you think you really may feel as strongly about me as I do about you," she took a big breath of courage before strongly stating, "Then I would really like to ask you out on a date."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the elevator dinged in front of them. Before Scully could look and see if Mulder leaned against it, the door opened and revealed that same sleazy agent she'd seen earlier in the conference room. She was just moving to give him room to pass when he stepped forward and proclaimed, "Dana!" Before she had a chance to realize what was happening, he took a step forward and hugged her, smashing the flowers a bit in between them.

She quickly nudged away from him, but she didn't have a chance to say anything by the time he said, "I hope ya liked the flowers. I found that hot little poem in one of my ex-wife's books and I thought it fit you perfectly."

Never before in her entire life had Dana Scully wished spontaneous human combustion was real, but in this moment she was more than willing to be the first documented victim.

She was so stunned all she could do is stand there and squeak, "W-what?"

"Yeah, you pass by me in the hallways and I've always noticed the way you smile and say 'Good Morning', I decided to finally return the pleasantries," he chuckled, smoothing back his three strands of hair attempting to compensate for the hundreds of missing ones.

She could feel her heart beating in her ears. She didn't care that this weird man was hitting on her, she could let him down and not lose a wink of sleep, but she- she really just said all of _that_ to Mulder.

She wished doppelgangers were real. That maybe Eddie Van Bluhnt had been released and when she turned to look at Mulder again, it would be his sad face instead. God, she wanted to disappear.

"So, whatcha say, babe? Wanna go out?" he asked, chewing his gum like he was chewing his own cud.

"She already has Valentines plans, sorry," she heard a voice inform from behind the man.

He turned around in irritation and rolled his eyes. "Of course," he spat. "Let me guess, with you?" He asked, letting his eyes roam over Mulder like he was wondering how I could ever accept such a downgrade from himself.

"No, no," Mulder dismissed, waving his hand in front of his face. "Her secret admirer. He's been pining after her for years and she's finally decided to take pity on him," he told him seriously.

Scully felt her lips twitch upwards in a poorly concealed smile. Of course he'd find a way to make her feel better. The man returned his gaze to Scully in disappointment, letting his eyes roam her body in a final wistful appraisal, "Lucky sonuvabitch."

"That he is," Mulder agreed, smiling at her without hesitation.

"Well, when you give up on that schmuck. You know where to find me," he said, getting back on the elevator and letting it closed without bothering to let them on.

She was still embarrassed, but when she went to apologize, Mulder took a step forward and gave her a beaming smile that lit up his eyes. "So, where are we going?"


End file.
